notes password

Hi, I have some locked notes on my iPhone XR and I have always unlocked them with my face ID. I know that I made a password for the notes as well, because otherwise the face-ID wouldn't work in the first place. But I forgot the password and even with the hint I made myself about 1 1/2 years ago, I don't remember it... Well, because of some (to me) unexplainable reason I'm not able to unlock my notes with my face ID anymore - the option doesn't even show up. There only is a box for me to write my password in. Why can I not use face ID anymore and is there any way I can unlock my notes again, even though I don't know the password? And by the way, the face ID option works on all my other apps just like it always did...